Android G2 Hands On: Close to Perfection — HTC and Google are getting closer to perfection with the new Android G2, the HTC Magic. Nice finish, great form factor. Check out our video, including the obligatory comparison with Apple's iPhone, and hands-on impressions:

Second ‘Google phone’ is unveiled — Science and technology reporter, BBC News, Barcelona — A second phone based on Google's operating system Android has been unveiled by Vodafone at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. — The touchscreen HTC Magic will feature a 3.2 Megapixel camera …

50% of Charges Against Pirate Bay Dropped — What has been shown in court today is that the prosecutor cannot prove that the .torrent files he is using as evidence actually used The Pirate Bay's tracker. Many of the screenshots being used clearly state there is no connection to the tracker.

Apple absent from universal phone charger push — Although AT&T and several other iPhone partners joined an industry initiative to standardize mobile phone chargers over the next few years, Apple has yet to follow suit and may remain committed to its proprietary dock-connector interface .

New tech start-ups can rise from the economy's ashes — SAN FRANCISCO — It's boom — and bust — for Silicon Valley companies these days. Literally. — Facing their worst economic climate since the dot-com bust in the early 2000s, high-tech companies are treating 2009 with dread …

iPhone dominates Mobile World Congress 2009 without Apple — While reports have suggested that Apple may attend next year's CES to “sit amongst its competition” in consumer electronics, the company has elected not to attend the GSMA Mobile World Congress being held in Barcelona this week.

Facebook's TOS debacle: Be upset for a better reason — There was some Facebook backlash over the long U.S. weekend that has prompted some calls for boycotts over two sentences that were taken out of the company's Terms of Services agreement earlier this month.

MySpace's Google Gravy Train Set to Stop Next Year — Midway through next year, Google's $900 million, 3.5-year search advertising deal with News Corp. and MySpace expires. What are the odds that Rupert Murdoch's social network gets anything close to that with a new contract? — Very, very low.

The Cellphone, Navigating Our Lives — The cellphone is the world's most ubiquitous computer. The four billion cellphones in use around the globe carry personal information, provide access to the Web and are being used more and more to navigate the real world.

Google: The Case Against A Second Half Recovery — Time to take profits in Google (GOOG), advises ThinkEquity analyst William Morrison. — Morrison this morning cut his rating on the stock to “Source of Funds,” from Accumulate, and reduced his price target to $300 from $350.

Microsoft in talks to acquire local startup 3DV Systems — The first Israeli exit of 2009 is hitting the road. Software giant Microsoft is negotiating to acquire the Israeli startup 3DV Systems for about $35 million, despite the alarming condition of the global economy and grim forecasts of more pain to come.

Tech-Boom Flashback for Bankers — While much of the investment-banking community looks on the current crisis with a mixture of horror and bemusement, technology bankers have been here before. — When the dot-com bubble burst at the beginning of the decade, hundreds of technology companies folded and the flow of deals dried up.

Future Shock for Internet Ads? — What does the Internet display-ad market have in common with Zimbabwe? — Both are printing nearly-limitless amounts of their main currency, vastly diminishing its value and undermining their future. The currency, for Web sites, is their ad inventory.

Tech Layoffs Surge to 300,000 — Layoffs in the tech sector are accelerating. It took exactly three weeks for tech layoffs to surge to 300,000, according to our Layoff Tracker. Since late January, when the tracker hit 200,000 layoffs, another 100,000 job eliminations have been announced or completed.

Worst. Windows 7. Piece. EVER! — Over on Slashdot is perhaps the worst piece on Windows 7 that I've see so far (I find it hard to believe that this one will be beaten anytime soon ...). … OK, just a few points worth making: — Someone messes about with Photoshop in order to crack it …

How HP Mastered The Pain Game — CEO Mark Hurd's skill at making tough choices could comfort investors Wednesday. — BURLINGAME, Calif. - Wednesday would be a really bad day for Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Mark Hurd to break his winning streak. Central bankers around the globe are sweatily trying to revive faltering banks.

What Caused the Tech Sales Crash? — It wasn't consumers that slammed on the brakes, they just tapped them a little. — Earnings season for the past month has been more painful than a root canal with no Novocain. On earnings calls, one hardware supplier after another recounted sales …

Spammers break Live Hotmail's CAPTCHA yet again — The battle by Microsoft to secure its Live Hotmail system from spammers appears to have failed yet again with the news that the latest version of its CAPTCHA authentication system has been broken. — According to a detailed analysis …

Facebook, MySpace Lead in Social Uptime — Twitter's monthly downtime in 2008, measured in hours (Source: Pingdom) — Facebook and MySpace were among the most reliable social networks in 2008, while Twitter and LinkedIn had the worst uptime, according to a new report from Pingdom (PDF).